KEEPING THEM IGNORANT (PART II)

“When Men Become Idols”

By Akin Ojumu

In order to perpetuate their power, the powers that be in the Church have successfully convinced the laity that the word of the man of God carries more weight than the written Word of the Almighty God. 

These gods of men, in furtherance of their influence, have done an extraordinary job in elevating the authority of their pronunciations over and above the inspirations of the Holy Spirit given to men and canonized in the Holy Bible. Sadly, in these modern times, befuddled Christians have willingly capitulated to the whims and caprices of the hierarchy of the Church.

Within the early Church were certain people known as the Gnostics who held beliefs that deviated from the doctrines of the Church. The Gnostics placed particular emphasis on “special knowledge” as a way of knowing God. According to their heretical beliefs, collectively known as Gnosticism, salvation is not free at all.

Gnostics believe that, in order to be saved by God, a man must first acquire a “special knowledge” which they call gnosis. This esoteric knowledge is granted only to a few people through special revelations. And to be conferred with such a knowledge makes the recipient a spiritual giant who is heads and shoulders above the mere midgets not similarly gifted.

This heretical belief was strongly condemned by Apostle Paul. He described it, in his 1st Epistle to Timothy, as “profane and vain babblings…and “false knowledge”. Likewise, Apostle John condemned Gnosticism in his Epistles, calling them liars and the antichrist in 1 John 2:22.

Even today, babblings in profanity and vanity continue to pour, like rainstorm, from Church pulpits everywhere. Their thick clouds cast long foreboding shadows of deception across the Church horizon. Those who fancy themselves as oracles with special knowledge fill the airwaves with words laced with poison that engender terror and curses that make all those who hear them bow down in fearful surrender.

These are folks who see themselves as having received a special knowledge that separates them from the hoard of witless souls who, with bowed heads and torn garments, “worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Having received this special knowledge – anointing, is the modern term – they go about with rarefied air of self-importance. 

Their esoteric knowledge, they believe, confers on them a celebrity status in God’s kingdom and a cult-like following and adulation among men. Thus, every utterance they make is taken as though God Himself has spoken, and their very word, is deemed spiritual truth and eternal law.

So, when by Scriptures we understand that “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands,” the special ones with esoteric knowledge assert, contrariwise, that God wants them to build tents of meeting the size of a major city. Others with selfsame special anointing demand that their followers bring the last of their farthings so they may raise Cathedrals of Crystals to God that reach up to the heavens.

Whereas the Bible says that “no weapon that is formed against you will prosper,” these prophetic ministers with special knowledge come with a revelation they claim to have received from God that your present setback is the result of witches from the village and wizards from your family who are waging war against your progress. 

In essence, they declare that God must be mistaken, because weapons formed against you will certainly prosper, and you will forever need the powerful prayer of the anointed man of God in order to survive the attack from those who mean to do you harm.

When all that God demands of us in giving is for us to do it cheerfully – which the Scriptures instruct us gladdens His heart – men claiming special knowledge insist Christians are accursed and bound for hell if they fail to give a tenth of their income because God has placed a particular premium on tithes.

Out of fear of being cursed and condemned to damnation, many begrudgingly “pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,” and in the process turn blind eyes on “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.”

To be continued.